New authors and books

Rejoice, for Joe Abercrombie has taken enough of a break from playing Skyrim to crack on with his next book (stand-alone, as were Best Served Cold and The Heroes), entitled A Red Country. My exhaustive research [I checked his blog] suggest that a certain digitally deficient fellow might feature, and Cosca’s returning. The setting is a bit of a wilderness, the outskirts of the Old Empire and Styria, if memory serves.

It’s pencilled in for the 27^th of September.

Earlier this year I read Douglas Hulick’s Among Thieves, and liked it quite a lot. His second Tales of the Kin book (Sworn in Steel) is due out on the 13^th of September. Not all the Tales he writes will feature Drothe as the protagonist, but he does star in Sworn in Steel. I hope we see Bronze Degan again, but I have a sneaking suspicion he won’t be in this book.

I quite like trying out new authors, and there are a few I keep meaning to get around to reading. (Now that I come to think of it I’ve still got The Complete Works of Shakespeare to read as well). One of the best things about the Kindle is the ability to download a sample and get a feel for a book and author before buying.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is his first novel, and is highly rated. Rothfuss is someone a lot of people know about, but for some reason (as with Peter V. Brett’s The Painted Man) I’ve never, yet, bought his stuff. Both of these books/authors are on my ‘to read’ list.

I was browsing Amazon and came across Geist, by Philippa Ballantine. I must admit I’d never heard of her, but the book sounds interesting. Going by the understandably vague summary, it sounds like it has religious undertones and undead/spirits involved.

Theft of Swords, by Michael J Sullivan, is another book I might look at. The series title (Riyria Revelations) sounds like a tongue-twister, and the first entry is actually a pair of stories: The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha. Hadrian and Royce seem to be dual protagonists that embark upon some light-hearted adventures.

David Chandler’s Ancient Blades Trilogy seems promising. As with Ballantine, a new name for me, and although the first book’s rating is somewhat middling the latter two are both highly rated. Judging by the reviews it sounds like sword and sorcery, and less grim than is often the case nowadays. I don’t like reading books that are all the same, though, so I may well give this a try.

And, of course, there’s the Game of Thrones DVD coming out in early March. Those who saw the series when it broadcast have little but praise for it, and I’m rather looking forward to its arrival.

Thaddeus

Review: Among Thieves (A Tale of the Kin), by Douglas Hulick

Among Thieves is a fantasy story, set in the fictional city of Ildrecca. Slightly unusually it’s written in the first person and focuses entirely upon Drothe, a member of the underworld, known as Kin.

Drothe’s had a problem with delivery of a relic, and then his day goes from bad to worse when the worst hellhole in the city is plunged into an underworld conflict. Aided by blind luck, night vision and his ally Bronze Degan, Drothe tries to unravel the reasons behind the conflict before there’s an outright war and the empire’s enforcers go for the jugular of the criminal fraternity to restore peace.

It’s a pretty gritty read, but Mr. Hulick doesn’t overdo it. Ildrecca is done in enough detail (separate criminal cordons, some mention of imperial history and the foreign Djan etc) to be interesting without info-dumping all over the place. Exposition is generally concise, and the action is commonplace and frequently bloody. By chance, it’s (in those regards) almost the exact opposite of Tigana, which I finished reading a few days earlier and also liked a lot.

There’s zero romance (the closest Drothe has to a relationship is his possibly mariticidal sister), and magic plays an important role (both in terms of story and action).

I raced through the book. In fact, now I come to think of it, I only bought it two days ago. The moral ambiguity of keeping promises or breaking them to protect people, lashings of blood and criminal shenanigans kept me thoroughly entertained. I also enjoyed reading about the history of the empire and the creative approach the author took towards the emperor.

My only real complaint is that Mr. Hulick has yet to write another book, though his next (Sworn in Steel) is due out in June.

Thaddeus